It is very easy to forget important details about an injury accident in the weeks and months that follow. If you are considering filing a personal injury claim it is a good idea to keep a journal documenting your injuries and what you remember about the accident.
An experienced Savannah personal injury attorney at Roden Law can tell you more about what a post-accident pain diary is and provide additional tips on what to include in it. Call us today if you would like to meet with one of our knowledgeable attorneys to discuss your personal injury claim and how to keep a pain journal.
What Is a Personal Injury Pain Diary?
A pain diary is a handwritten account of your accident and injuries. Your personal injury lawyer may recommend that you add updates to your journal every day or at least a few times each week as you go through treatment.
Important Details to Include in a Post-Accident Journal
An accurate, detailed, organized journal will be more helpful to your claim than one that is disorganized, hard to read, or lacking detail.
This written record of your recovery may be subject to discovery by the other party in your claim. With that in mind, there are some important details you should make sure to include:
How the Accident Occurred
As soon as possible, write down your description of the accident and how it occurred while this information is fresh in your mind. This includes:
- Date, time and location of the accident
- Contact details of other drivers, passengers, and witnesses
- Any traffic signals or other signs that were ignored
- Anything you remember immediately before the accident happened
- What you observed about the other driver’s actions or behavior
- Weather conditions
- Condition of the road
Conversations with Others Involved
Include details of conversations you had with other people involved in the collision, such as the other driver, witnesses or responding officers. Note the date and time of the conversation, whether the other party admitted any fault, and contact information of each person you spoke with in case your lawyer needs to follow up with them later.
Pain and Other Symptoms
One of the most important reasons to keep a post-accident diary is to accurately and regularly describe daily symptoms from your injuries. Adding a personal assessment of your daily pain level may also be beneficial. Try to use descriptive words such as “pulsing” or “throbbing” to further explain what you are feeling, and base it on a scale where a score of 10 is the worst and any lower number is less.
How a Personal Injury Diary May Help Your Claim
If you keep a detailed journal, you will not need to try to remember important details about how you were feeling, your pain level and how your daily activities were limited on any given day. You can find it in your journal.
There are a variety of benefits to having this written record:
- Preserving crucial facts about the accident
- Providing insightful information to your doctor to aid in your recovery
- Accurately recording your pain symptoms and how they have limited your daily life and activities
- Documenting economic damages, such as medical expenses and lost wages
- Helping you to accurately remember specific information about your case in court or at a deposition
Contact Roden Law for Help with Your Post-Accident Pain Diary
If you were injured in an accident caused by another person’s negligence, the knowledgeable attorneys at Roden Law may be able to help. We welcome the opportunity to review your claim and answer any questions you may have about keeping a post-accident pain diary or the personal injury claim process.